Pasadena Presbyterian Church Sermon Text
October 12, 2003

"Bad News and Good News"
Preached by The Rev. Dr. Mark Smutny

Scripture:  Amos 5:6-7. 10-15; Mark 10:17-31

Several years ago, I took a preaching course from a professor who emphasized that every good sermon should contain no more that 50% judgment and at least 50% grace.  Unlike the L.A. Times, with no more than 50% bad news and no less than 50% good news. 

The problem is that's not usually the way it works in most sermons.  Preachers tend to emphasize what's wrong.  We can go on and on about this and that and how terrible it all is, then leave the last few sentences of a sermon to some scolding about what you ought to do and then the sermon is over, "Amen."  The only mercy is the "Amen."  No wonder Christians can get a reputation for bring grim, rather than people who exude joy, love and gratitude.

So I've tried to take the advice to heart and proclaim at least 50% good news.  Except sometimes in scripture it's hard to find the good news.  Today's text from Mark certainly sounds like bad news. 

One day as Jesus was setting out on a journey, he meets a man.  Whenever the Gospels say that Jesus on a journey we can always be sure of his final destination.  But for now he meets a man and the man falls to his knees and asks a very important question, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" 

Unlike in the other Gospels who describe this man as either a rich man or a young man, in Mark's Gospel he's just a man.  That means that he could be talking about anyone, maybe you or maybe even me.  The man is just an ordinary man, but he takes his faith very seriously and engages Jesus in a discussion about eternal life.  Later on in the story we find out that he had many possessions.  So he is well off, but that doesn't leave us off the hook.  In this country, whether we are rich or live modestly, or somewhere in between, we all have many possessions.

This ordinary man, a successful man with many possessions who was on a religious quest, kneels before Jesus and asks, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"Go, sell what you own have and give the money to the poor," says Jesus.  Preachers and congregants have been trying to squirm around that one for a couple of millennia.

It sure sounds like bad news to me and to those who have many possessions which means all of us.  How can what sounds like harsh, divine judgment become good news a message of grace?

Now you know if you have been around the scriptures for very long, breathing their essence, then you know that they often convey an upside-down world where the first are last, the weak are strong and from dying comes new life.  In this world of God's great reversals, what at first seems like harsh, divine judgment can sometimes turn out to be an act of God's love. 

It's a lot like a tyrannical English teacher who fills your essay with so many marks for your poor grammar and lack of imaginative writing that the paper bleeds red, only to discover years later that she was the one who most inspired you to become a journalist or an author or a preacher.  What at first glance seemed like austere judgment became an act of grace.  It depends upon your perspective whether you hear harsh judgment or good news.

The well-off man who clearly is on a spiritual quest, like we all are (or else we wouldn't have gotten out of bed and shown up here in church) approaches Jesus with the big question:  "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus seems a little annoyed with the inquisitive man and fires back, "Why do you call me good?  No one is good but God alone." Then he redirects the conversation: "You know the commandments.  Go live them and then let's have our little chat." 

The man says, "Teacher, I've lived them and believed in them since I was a young sprout getting all A's in Sunday school."  This guy is accomplished!  He's got lots of stuff and he's spiritually accomplished, as well.  He's a success!  The Beemer is in the garage and he's a good and decent man and takes God seriously.  He's someone the Church Officer Nominating Committee ought to think about.  Sounds like Trustee material or maybe chair of the Stewardship Committee. 

Jesus looks with compassion on the man.  The scriptures say that because Jesus loved him he's going to give him something that he doesn't have.  Jesus says, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, then come, follow me."

The man is stunned.  "Grieved," the Bible says.  He dives into a depression.  He gets in his Beemer and drives away.  He leaves his spiritual quest.  He turns down the call to follow Jesus and walks away from the journey on which he had been his whole life.  Jesus watches him go and says, "See this needle.  It is harder to stuff a camel the size of a small bus through the eye of this needle than for someone who is rich to get right with God".

What we have here is bad news.  This can't be good news.  A man, an ordinary man who is on an earnest religious quest, falls at Jesus' knees and asks a very important question, maybe the most important question of all, and when he hears the answer he walks away because he has lots of stuff that he doesn't want to give up. 

We are ordinary folk.  Good men and women who have lots of stuff.  We are here at church because we are on a spiritual quest.  We want to follow Jesus, to connect with others on the journey and be deepened and go out into the world and serve.  We are here because we ask the question, "What must I do?  What must I do to deepen my faith, to follow Jesus, to live more compassionately, to make the right decisions in the face of hard choices?  What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

When the spiritually inclined man hears what Jesus has to say - a fellow seeker hears Jesus' words of love - he turns away.  There is no other call story in the Gospels where the one who is called by Jesus to follow him ends up turning him down.  He refuses.  He says, "No I won't go there."

The reason is money.  That's the bad news.  Jesus has plenty of bad news to spread about that subject.  It's pretty clear in the Gospels that people who have lots of stuff don't come off that well in the Gospels, along with people who chase after any other false love.  As much as we might wish to squirm around it, that's the way it is.

But wait - this story doesn't end with the man's rejection of the call to follow Jesus!  Peter, the head honcho disciple, having watched the entire scene unfold before him, scratches his head, flummoxed with that image of stuffing a camel the size of a small bus through the eye of a scrawny little needle and wants to know from Jesus, "Then who can be saved?"  Jesus responds, "With mortals it is impossible.  But not for God.  With God all things are possible." 

He then goes on to blurt out, "Look, Jesus, we did leave everything behind and follow you, everything, homes, families and possessions. 

Here's the good news.  The story does not end with the ordinary, spiritually inclined man with all the stuff rejecting the call.  That's only the first half of the story.  Look, we are ordinary men and women, with lots of stuff, all of us.  We have our inquiring theological questions.  We have occasionally been grieved by the answers, or at least, been irritated with the church and its prophetic witness that keeps stirring up trouble, disturbing our comfort, pointing out privilege in this world does not guarantee privilege in the next.  At times we felt like running away.  But unlike the man in the story, we haven't gone away.  We've stayed the course.  When we have knelt at the feet of Jesus, when he urged us to go places where we never thought we could go, we've stayed the course. 

When the teacher spilled red ink all over our essay, we didn't give up.  We buckled down and learned.  We thought about giving up, but no good work comes on a silver spoon. We worked at it.  We prayed.  We got out of bed on Sunday mornings and absorbed the faith, sang the songs, sought to have our lives transformed by Jesus.  We faced the hard issues and learned and grew and became more courageous and more compassionate. 

When the Good Teacher required us to go places where we didn't want to go, to confront some inner demon, to bear with someone else's infirmity, to give up some secret hatred, to give up some of our stuff and look out for the poor and dispossessed, we didn't walk away.  We didn't go away grieved.  We're still here.  This is the good news.

Jesus promises that the story will end in joy.  He says, "Truly I tell you, when you leave this stuff behind, when you turn your back on anything and everything that holds you down, I will give you a hundred times more."

One day, Jesus sets out on a journey.  We join him on that journey.  We know where the story ends, and even though it ends up that lonely hill, we go there with him.  When the Good Teacher tells us things we don't really want to hear, we stick with him, nonetheless.  We're his disciples.

Some of us have given up a lucrative new job promotion because it is more important to be a father or mother who is present with his or her children than to earn more cash.  Some of us have discovered that sitting beside a forgotten soul in a nursing home, may not be a big deal in the eyes of our fast paced, hectic world, but in the eyes of God, it is priceless.  Some of us who are in high school have chosen what is right and good and decent, instead of what is popular.  Some of us, many of us, have given of our wealth and resources, our time and our talent, sacrificially.  We've forgone many things, because it is the right thing to do and because it gives us joy.  Okay, none of us is perfect, but who is but God alone?

This trying, difficult story, does not end with bad news.  Jesus doesn't come and say, "You North American affluent, wasteful, Christian hypocrites living in the Third Millennium, there's no hope for you.  You're camel dung."  That's not what he says.  What he says is that following him is hard.  Going on this journey with him is hard.  We know where he is headed, and if are going to go there with him, there is a lot that we will need to give up. 

But take heart.  There is so much you will gain so rejoice. I've seen what you can do.  When you follow Jesus, you have come to know that what at first may have seemed like harsh judgment has been a gift of grace. When you follow Jesus, you have come to know that giving yourself in service to others is a greater joy than all the stuff you can pile on top of your pile.  As you continue to follow Jesus, you will come to know ever more fully that what you give up for the greater good is imbued with eternity.  With God it is possible.  "So come on, follow me." 

Stripped of all the meaningless stuff that clings so closely, like camels on a diet, we are drawn through the eye of that needle to a life that is eternal.  With God, all things are possible.  This is good news.  Amen.

(c) Copyright 2003 by Mark K. Smutny.  All rights reserved.  Permission granted for non-profit use with attribution.